Saturday, June 17, 2006

Lies, all lies!

Hi there, violently protest about the being lazy part. My sister met with a really bad accident in LA & I was with her almost all of May. She is getting better, albeit very slowly:-( We are terribly shaken but very very grateful that she is alive & out of the hospital now…

Have not really wanted to write anything much since then…

UNTIL NOW

If I weren’t married to Amit, I’d sue him for defamation & scurrilous lies. All of them, lies. (Only can’t sue coz it will be our joint account funding Amit’s lawyers. Not good)

I admit I was a little scared, but just a tad. Tell me, wouldn’t you be if you were in a SMALL banca (a very small boat), just enough for 4 people to crawl into, and you were attempting to cross a big stretch of the ocean?? Plus, there is no other boat for miles in sight, and the boatman’s preferred style of navigation is to beam a flashlight that barely reaches a meter into the sea. Worse, the ride is like 45 minutes long to get into the mangrove where the firefly cruise actually begins, and all you have for company till then are the giant 50ft long whale sharks, which as you would have realized from Amit’s post, have this habit of popping to surface ever so often, toppling little Bancas that stand in their way.

SO as I said, I was just a little scared. Not anywhere close to being astral-travel-scared.

But seriously, the firefly cruise was awesome once I began to sight other boats and knew we were not alone in the universe (30 minutes in of paddling about in a pitch dark expanse of sea can spook you). It is something else – citydweller that I am, to watch a sky filled with stars, all jostling for space and sighting news ones that appear every minute. It was humbling and so very beautiful.

So on the way back, I just fixed my fears. Got the boatman to follow other boats heading back the same way so we were never alone. Gazed at the stars, played with the phosphoresent water, switched on my iPod and blocked Amits comments about scary whales & toppled bancas out.

5 Comments:

I'm with you Sandi - I remember being convinced I was going to die, out in a post-typhoon ocean in Ilo Ilo, in a boat that closely resembled our kitchen sink. At least we were six girls, so good company! We could shriek together.

But aquatic adventures in the Philippines are not for the faint-hearted...

Hi Sandi & Amit!So sorry I haven't been able to send you the pictures we took from our engagement party, I seem to have misplaced you email addys, please email me at katmoons@gmail.com so I could send you guys the pictures.

Gino is settling in across the ocean and he sends you both his regards.We really missed Sandi during the party! We’re glad your sister is recovering and I hope she liked the beads. Let's meet up sometime for coffee or that shopping trip we’ve been planning. =)

Hi Kathy, I posted a comment on the the Gino & Kathy blog-my sister loved the beads and she thanks you warmly!:-) I wear the earrings she made all the time, so you can admire her handiwork when we meet for coffee! Loved your engagement snaps. That looked like one happy party! Texting you now so lets meet this weekend! Love, Sandi

Hey Kate, You are one adventurous soul!!! We keep waiting for updates from Hadita! I've read Kite Runner, but reading your blog just makes it all the more real and all the more sad. But I'm so glad you are there & helping out. We keep rooting for you to experience more of life's adventures and for you, inshallah, to continue to make a difference ! You go, Girl! Take care, Sandi. PS: Loved your pix of Lebanon. We'll visit those places, one day!

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The Blog in Brief

We're an expatriate Indian couple in Manila penning these notes in the hope that they will inform and educate those of you planning to visit or move to the Philippines. The rest of you, enjoy reading! Who knows but you might be here too one day?